Who do you have breakfast with?
By ValerieWinston Healy
I sat down for breakfast the other morning and while it was a typical start to my day, it did not turn out to be a typical breakfast time for me. Way more people arrived than I’m
used to.
Any given morning, I will get up, stop in my office to grab my prayer book, and walk to the kitchen. I place my prayer book on the table, put the kettle on for tea and pop a slice of bread into the toaster. While all that “cooks”, I will empty the dishwasher and put the dishes away. As I complete my first morning chore, the toaster beeps to let me know that my
toast is ready and the kettle begins to whistle, letting me know the water is hot. That morning, I decided to have some jam on my toast. All is ready and I moved from the island to the table to sit and enjoy my quiet prayer time with tea and toast and jam. Sitting at the table, I looked down at my breakfast and realized nothing on the table had been purchased or made by me. All had been given as gifts. The toast was from a homemade loaf of bread, given by a parishioner who wanted to thank me for my ministry. The jam had been given by a dear friend for my Birthday to sweeten my mornings and bring a smile to my face. The tea was a present from my husband who knows that I believe “tea fixes everything”. My prayer book too, from Stephen given soon after we were married. I looked past my meal and prayer book to the plate I was using to hold my toast, and the knife I used, to spread my jam. Even those were gifts. Gifts given to Stephen and me when we got married, given from my mom and dad.
The ‘remembering’ I was experiencing at that moment, reminded me of the Hebrew belief of remembering. When one remembers, the remembering recalls the person or
persons being remembered to be present in some way at that moment. It’s like the words in our Eucharistic prayer, “do this in remembrance of me”, where Jesus become truly
present to us at that moment. My gosh, suddenly, my breakfast table was crowed. The parishioner who gifted me with bread, my dear friend who gave me jam, my Stephen, my mom and dad. We were all present for that moment (and I was still in my jammies).
It's moments like this that overwhelm me. I’m so privileged. I’m so grateful for all the people God has placed in my life. How loving, how generous they are and have been. How their presence has shown me God, has shown me love. What a wonderful way to start one’s day, even if the table becomes crowded. So, I ask you, who did you have breakfast with this morning? I’m hoping your table was crowded.